Senate President Godswill Akpabio has lashed out at former presidential candidate Peter Obi for his recent criticism of Nigeria’s democratic credentials, warning that such “divisive” remarks could stoke confusion in the country.
Akpabio’s rebuke came on Thursday during a Senate valedictory session in honour of the late elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark. He rejected Obi’s statement made at Clark’s memorial lecture, where the former Anambra governor had lamented that Nigeria is “not a democratic country” and that “the labour of our heroes’ past is in vain.”
“I beg to disagree,” Akpabio said, visibly displeased. “Let Peter Obi show leadership first by resolving the crisis in the Labour Party. If he is unable to resolve that crisis, is it the crisis of Boko Haram he can resolve?”
He further accused those “aspiring to be presidential candidates” of contributing to national disunity through careless rhetoric, particularly on social media.
“Tell them to resolve the small party they have before they come to talk about the larger Nigeria. That is what Pa Edwin Clark would have advised,” he added.
The Senate President’s remarks follow mounting backlash from key political figures including Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who also faulted Obi’s recent speech at Johns Hopkins University in the U.S., where he described Nigeria as having more poor people than China, Indonesia, and Vietnam combined.
Sanwo-Olu labelled the comments “unflattering” and “disturbing,” urging prominent Nigerians to project the country positively on international platforms. “You do not have to market the government, but we all owe a duty to market Nigeria,” he said.
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But Obi has stood his ground. Speaking at Clark’s memorial in Abuja, he insisted that his statements were factual and intended to spark honest conversations, not to “demarket” Nigeria.
“I spoke a few days ago and people said I am demarketing Nigeria. When is truth being demarketing?” Obi asked. “World Bank has just shown that 75% of Nigerians in rural areas are poor. UNICEF said Nigeria has over two million malnourished children—the second highest in the world. Are they demarketing Nigeria?”
Obi maintained that the real threat to Nigeria is not criticism but denial.
“Let’s face the reality,” he said.
The exchange highlights a deepening ideological rift between leading political voices on how best to represent Nigeria’s challenges—at home and abroad.